Problems

3.
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cm

21.76 ... Two point charges q1 and Figure P21.76

q2 are held in place 4.50 cm apart.
q1
Another point charge Q = - 1.75 mC
of mass 5.00 g is initially located
S
a
3.00 cm from each of these charges
(Fig. P21.76) and released from rest.
You observe that the initial accelera- Q
4.50 cm
tion of Q is 324 m>s2 upward, parallel
to the line connecting the two point
charges. Find q1 and q2.
21.77 . Three identical point charges
q2
q are placed at each of three corners of
a square of side L. Find the magnitude
and direction of the net force on a point charge -3q placed (a) at
the center of the square and (b) at the vacant corner of the square.
In each case, draw a free-body diagram showing the forces exerted
on the -3q charge by each of the other three charges.
21.78 ... Three point charges are placed on the y-axis: a charge q
at y = a, a charge -2q at the origin, and a charge q at y = - a.
Such an arrangement is called an electric quadrupole. (a) Find the
magnitude and direction of the electric eld at points on the positive x-axis. (b) Use the binomial expansion to nd an approximate
expression for the electric eld valid for x W a. Contrast this
behavior to that of the electric eld of a point charge and that of
the electric eld of a dipole.
21.79 .. CP Strength of the Electric Force. Imagine two
1.0-g bags of protons, one at the earths north pole and the other at
the south pole. (a) How many protons are in each bag? (b) Calculate the gravitational attraction and the electrical repulsion that
each bag exerts on the other. (c) Are the forces in part (b) large
enough for you to feel if you were holding one of the bags?
21.80 . Electric Force Within the Nucleus. Typical dimensions of atomic nuclei are of the order of 10 -15 m (1 fm2. (a) If
two protons in a nucleus are 2.0 fm apart, nd the magnitude of
the electric force each one exerts on the other. Express the answer
in newtons and in pounds. Would this force be large enough for a
person to feel? (b) Since the protons repel each other so strongly,
why dont they shoot out of the nucleus?
21.81 .. If Atoms Were Not Neutral . . . Because the charges
on the electron and proton have the same absolute value, atoms are
electrically neutral. Suppose this were not precisely true, and the
absolute value of the charge of the electron were less than the
charge of the proton by 0.00100%. (a) Estimate what the net
charge of this textbook would be under these circumstances. Make
any assumptions you feel are justied, but state clearly what they
are. (Hint: Most of the atoms in this textbook have equal numbers
of electrons, protons, and neutrons.) (b) What would be the magnitude of the electric force between two textbooks placed 5.0 m
apart? Would this force be attractive or repulsive? Estimate what
the acceleration of each book would be if the books were 5.0 m
apart and there were no non- Figure P21.82
electric forces on them. (c)
Discuss how the fact that ordinary matter is stable shows
that the absolute values of the
u
charges on the electron and
L
L
proton must be identical to a
very high level of accuracy.
21.82 ... CP Two tiny spheres of mass 6.80 mg carry
S
E
charges of equal magnitude,
00
3.

cm

by using trial values for u and adjusting the values of u until a selfconsistent answer is obtained.)
21.70 .. CP Two identical spheres are each attached to silk
threads of length L = 0.500 m and hung from a common point
(Fig. P21.68). Each sphere has mass m = 8.00 g. The radius of
each sphere is very small compared to the distance between the
spheres, so they may be treated as point charges. One sphere is
given positive charge q1, and the other a different positive charge
q2 ; this causes the spheres to separate so that when the spheres are
in equilibrium, each thread makes an angle u = 20.0 with the
vertical. (a) Draw a free-body diagram for each sphere when in
equilibrium, and label all the forces that act on each sphere.
(b) Determine the magnitude of the electrostatic force that acts on
each sphere, and determine the tension in each thread. (c) Based
on the information you have been given, what can you say about
the magnitudes of q1 and q2 ? Explain your answers. (d) A small
wire is now connected between the spheres, allowing charge to
be transferred from one sphere to the other until the two spheres
have equal charges; the wire is then removed. Each thread now
makes an angle of 30.0 with the vertical. Determine the
original charges. (Hint: The total charge on the pair of spheres is
conserved.)
21.71 .. Sodium chloride (NaCl, ordinary table salt) is made up
of positive sodium ions 1Na+2 and negative chloride ions 1C1-2.
(a) If a point charge with the same charge and mass as all the
Na+ ions in 0.100 mol of NaCl is 2.00 cm from a point charge
with the same charge and mass as all the C1- ions, what is the
magnitude of the attractive force between these two point
charges? (b) If the positive point charge in part (a) is held in
place and the negative point charge is released from rest, what is
its initial acceleration? (See Appendix D for atomic masses.)
(c) Does it seem reasonable that the ions in NaCl could be separated in this way? Why or why not? (In fact, when sodium chloride dissolves in water, it breaks up into Na+ and C1- ions.
However, in this situation there are additional electric forces
exerted by the water molecules on the ions.)
21.72 .. A - 5.00-nC point charge is on the x-axis at x = 1.20 m .
A second point charge Q is on the x-axis at -0.600 m. What must
be the sign and magnitude of Q for the resultant electric eld at the
origin to be (a) 45.0 N> C in the +x-direction, (b) 45.0 N> C in the
-x-direction?
21.73 .. CP A small 12.3-g plastic ball is tied Figure P21.73
to a very light 28.6-cm string that is attached to
the vertical wall of a room (Fig. P21.73). A uniform horizontal electric eld exists in this
room. When the ball has been given an excess
charge of -1.11 mC, you observe that it
remains suspended, with the string making an
17.4
angle of 17.4 with the wall. Find the magnitude and direction of the electric eld in the
room.
21.74 .. CP At t = 0 a very small object
with mass 0.400 mg and charge +9.00 mC is traveling at 125 m> s
in the - x-direction. The charge is moving in a uniform electric eld
that is in the +y-direction and that has magnitude E = 895 N>C.
The gravitational force on the particle can be neglected. How far is
the particle from the origin at t = 7.00 ms?
21.75 .. Two particles having charges q1 = 0.500 nC and
q2 = 8.00 nC are separated by a distance of 1.20 m. At what point
along the line connecting the two charges is the total electric eld
due to the two charges equal to zero?

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